The recent release of The School for Good and Evil brings lovers of magic and fairytales together for a new story about friendship and the forces of good and evil. Of course, whenever magic schools are mentioned, audiences are bound to think about the world of Harry Potter, where young witches and wizards are trained to use their magic in their adult lives in the Wizarding World. While Harry ultimately defeated Voldemort, the series' best example of a witch who learned everything the school had to offer is Hermione.
Hermione Granger was a formidable witch, but most of her power came from her hunger for knowledge and perfectionism. While Harry is described as being uncommonly powerful, Hermione is described as bright, which gave her access to a wide range of spells but not raw power. Because of this, there are many other pop culture witches who would easily beat her in a fight. Just looking at witches on television, many were just as powerful (if not more powerful) than Hermione Granger, even at the height of her skills.
Paige Matthews — Charmed
It's incredibly difficult to choose a Charmed One as the strongest, but when set against Hermione Granger, Paige is probably the best match. As a half-witch, half-White Lighter, Paige had the ability to Orb from one place to another and used telekinesis to move other objects.
While Hermione excelled at learning magic, Paige actually taught at the Harry Potter-inspired Magic School, as both a teacher and headmistress. While there, she gained access to the formal education in magic her sisters never had. If she were pitted against Hermione, their powers would likely be fairly even.
Morgana Pendragon — Merlin
Looking into a British show that came out just as the Harry Potter books finished, Merlin presented magic as a gift people were born with, though they had to put in study and practice to learn to control it. Ironically, Morgana's first and strongest power was seeing the future, a bit of magic Hermione saw as nonsense. In addition, she was extremely gifted when it came to rituals, enchantments, and telekinesis.
With this combination of skills, Morgana was on a relatively level playing field with Hermione, but she likely would have won out because she didn't need a wand, while Hermione was limited in wand-less magic.
Freya Mikaelson — The Originals
The Vampire Diaries franchise had many powerful witches, but perhaps the most formidable was Freya Mikaelson. As the firstborn witch in her family, she had an extraordinary amount of power, which was sculpted by her Aunt Dahlia.
However, Hermione was about as knowledgeable in her system of magic as Freya was in hers. Both were limited in how their magic was performed, as Hermione needed a wand, and Freya often needed to channel more powerful beings for her spells. If it came down to a fight between them, the winner would likely depend on what magic objects were involved, as they were otherwise well-matched.
Alex Russo — Wizards of Waverly Place
The magic shown in Wizards of Waverly Place was virtually limitless, and Alex was extremely gifted in using it. As shown in the series finale, Alex's need to fix her magical mistakes throughout the show helped her to remember the spells and use them without any further difficulties.
Setting the witches against each other, Hermione had to use an external device (the Time-Turner) to be in two places at once, while Alex was able to create clones of herself. But, if time travel was necessary, there was also a spell for that (McReary-Time Reary). The different magic systems make it so Alex would be capable of using or creating a spell for nearly anything Hermione could attempt to use against her.
Regina Mills — Once Upon A Time
It's difficult to say who has the strongest magic in Once Upon A Time, but Regina was one of very few characters to master both light and dark magic. Regina got a magic education from the most powerful creature in their world, which made her proficient in several forms of magic, including what Hermione would call Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Apparition, and the Dark Arts.
Hermione was probably better in a conflict, as Regina rarely had to duel with her magic, but her logical mind would also keep her from believing in many of the curses Regina threw at her. Hermione knew that magic existed but mocked Divination and fairytales because they couldn't be real, so she would probably be too close-minded to face an equally powerful witch who just so happened to be the subject of fairytales.
Mallory — American Horror Story
The witches in American Horror Story: Coven were generally limited in their abilities, as each witch had the ability to complete a handful of skills, while specializing in one or two. This magic structure made it so each witch was unique in their strengths and weaknesses, as opposed to the fairly level playing field in Harry Potter.
However, Mallory was an exception to the rule, as she was the future Supreme. While Hermione could cast nearly any spell available to her, the Seven Wonders in AHS cover the same areas, putting them at roughly the same level. However, Mallory also had time travel abilities without any need for outside objects like the Time-Turner, which puts her beyond Hermione's capabilities.
Sabrina Spellman — Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Hermione might have the edge on most of the witches from Chiling Adventures Of Sabrina because her magic comes from inside, rather than coming from an external worship figure (such as Lucifer, Lillith, or Hecate), but Sabrina is uniquely suited to challenging the British witch. As a witch and the Antichrist, Sabrina had intrinsic power of her own.
Comparing their skills, both witches were gifted in memory erasure, spell-casting, glamours, and warding. While Hermione certainly had better decision-making than Sabrina, Sabrina had an absurd amount of raw power, including resurrection and necromancy. The Harry Potter series suggests that Hermione couldn't have faced Voldemort alone, yet Sabrina was able to go toe-to-toe with the Devil himself, as well as several Eldritch Terrors. Given that, Sabrina easily overpowers Hermione.
Julia Wicker — The Magicians
Generally speaking, the members of the Wizarding World would easily beat any Magician, simply because the Magicians were bound to their specializations (e.g. Alice manipulated light, Penny had psychic powers). However, Julia began as a Hedge Witch, which meant that she had to use any spell she could get her hands on, whether it was in her discipline or not.
There are advantages to a formal magic education, and Hermione is the prime example of that. However, great power comes with experimentation, which Hermione was completely unwilling to attempt. Julia was a Knowledge specialist, which meant she was drawn to understand magic on a deeper level than those who simply learned about spells that already existed. While Hermione was powerful, Julia could be creative in a way Hermione never would.
Willow Rosenberg — Buffy The Vampire Slayer
After Jenny Calendar died, Willow started dabbling with magic, which quickly became an integral part of her character. Similar to Hermione, she took a very scholarly approach to magic, gradually increasing the difficulty of the spells she completed. However, while Hermione's aptitude was always shown in a positive light, Willow's became an addiction she couldn't control.
As one of the most powerful characters in Buffy, Willow quickly surpassed Hermione's skills, resurrecting Buffy when she had only been learning magic for a few years. While Hermione would always have Willow beat on matters of accuracy and self-control, Willow had the ability to launch the apocalypse and activate every potential Slayer, world-changing magic that Hermione could never get close to.
Wanda Maximoff — WandaVision
When Wanda was first introduced, she was only aware of two abilities she could wield: mind manipulation and telepathy. While both were powerful, she didn't have good control over them and frequently made mistakes. In this way, Hermione would have easily beaten her, simply because she understood how magic worked and was well-practiced.
However, by the time the character got to WandaVision, she likely had too much raw power for control to matter. Chaos magic far surpasses anything the Wizarding World had to offer, so Hermione's best chance would be attempting to break Wanda's concentration. Once she learned how to block another witch's magic, however, Wanda would easily defeat Hermione.
Source:gamerant.com